Deriving the non-perturbative gravitational dual of quantum Liouville theory from BCFT operator algebra (2403.03179v3)

Abstract: We demonstrate that, by utilizing the boundary conformal field theory (BCFT) operator algebra of the Liouville CFT, one can express its path-integral on any Riemann surface as a three dimensional path-integral with appropriate boundary conditions, generalising the recipe for rational CFTs \cite{Hung:2019bnq, Brehm:2021wev, Chen:2022wvy, Cheng:2023kxh}. This serves as a constructive method for deriving the \textit{quantum} holographic dual of the CFT, which reduces to Einstein gravity in the large central charge limit. As a byproduct, the framework provides an explicit discrete state-sum of a 3D non-chiral topological theory constructed from quantum $6j$ symbols of $\mathcal{U}_q(sl(2,\mathbb{R}))$ with non-trivial boundary conditions, representing a long-sought non-perturbative discrete formulation of 3D pure gravity with negative cosmological constant, at least within a class of three manifolds. This constitutes the first example of an exact holographic tensor network that reproduces a known irrational CFT with a precise quantum gravitational interpretation.